Bubbles, Babies, and gluten free...uh, cupcakes?!

He's doing better... This is mouse from today's project.

After we picked up MG from school we headed over to the Almaden Library to attend a bubble science class:

They all helped in one way or another:

He loved it!

And then they were off to  experiment!  Which container had the best combination to make the biggest bubble?

In the end, the dishwashing soap and corn syrup won!

We headed straight for Jen's house to have a small gathering with my former colleagues from Hellyer School. Kelly's daughter, Hannah, just had her baby.  This is Rosemary.  They call her Rose.  She's so adorable!!!!

Mommy and Rose.

Proud Grandma Kelly.  She's holding Owen, Jen's 8 month old.  He was adorable as well...  Surround me with babies and watch me drool.  They were so stinking cute!!!!  I can see why Kelly wanted to eat this one up!

The the best part... Danielle F. made gluten free cupcakes that were a HUGE hit with the children! 

And that was our day -- hope yours was great too!  And it looks like someone was actually listening to me... the weather was just right today!  Thank you fall... we anxiously await you!

Learning and grape "juice"

He's writing much better these days!  I am so proud of him.   He wrote:  "On Sunday we went to Half Moon Bay.  We went fishing."  He was able to sound out most of the words and I reminded him about special words and letters that he could not hear but were there or words that required certain letters to accompany each other.  For example, we have been working on ar and er sounds.  In general, he will only want to write cr for car, but I remind him that a and r need each other to make a word that  makes sense and that all words need to have a vowel to make sense.

And he's reading too! (and don't mind the fact that I myself, did not know the date... It was September 28th, NOT February 28th that he read this!)

(I had to delete this video to make more space for other photos, sorry Ma)

E is doing what he does best... playing while MD and I work... bless him for being more independent these days!  (Might be the biweekly classes he's attending.)

After school we swung by Matt's house for some water... he offered the children grapes from the back yard.  MD asked if he could make grape juice instead...  of course, Matt said yes.  Yikes, I say!  Have a lookie:

Look at the "glop!"  (MD's own word)

And in the end... all 3 approved of the new treat Uncle Matt invented for them.  Grape juice, squeezed by their own little hands, sugar, and crushed ice...

Yum!  He took his remainder on the road... home, so that's saying a lot!

Thank you Uncle Matt for a refreshing treat!  It was supposed to be cooler today... alas, I did not agree!  I was too dang hot to enjoy the afternoon... looking forward to fall! Fall, I know that you are technically here (because the children wrote that during their last art project).   But I want you here and feel like you are REALLY here!  I want to whip out my warm coat, snuggle with the children, sip hot chocolate, and read books under a soft warm blanket...  Away with you heat!!!!

A better day and escaping the heat

He was excited to go to school today -- sort of.  He loves doing projects so we kept discussing the fact that he would be doing a new project today...  which made him happy.  Happy, that is until he walked into the classroom.  Then he turned to me and said, "I'm going to miss you Momma."  And he began to cry.  I told him that I would miss him too but that I would be back after he finished his project.  He said okay and waved goodbye to me.  His teacher carried him to a table to do an activity and he cried... saying, "Bye Momma" as she walked away from me and the front door.  My heart... can it break that many times in a week???  Thank goodness we don't have to do this again until Thursday.  My poor broken heart will have a day of rest and to heal...
When I picked him up, he was not crying!  He came running to me and pulled me over to the table where his project was!  I am so proud that he can identify his own name and show me his work.  This is what I was greeted with after 3 hours -- check out the smile on his face!

He was very excited to show off his puppy that he cut and glued together.  AWESOME!!!!  Mrs. Gavin said he did much better today... okay, only 20 more days to go!  (yikes!)

Then we escaped the heat by going to the library once MD got out of his class.  There's a 30 minute difference so E ate his lunch while waiting.  Then this is what they chose to do while we waited to drive off to pick up MG:

After picking up MG, it was still HOT... so we escaped to Matt and Leo's so they could swim!  MG decided not to swim so we finished most of her homework.  E and MD splashed for a good hour before we went home.  It was nice in the shade for MG and I.  When we arrived at home the children ended up playing outside because it was just too darn hot inside the house.

The rest of the week promises to be cooler... yay!!!!

Swim lessons #3

These two are doing very well and having a blast!

The two boys in her group make her look very graceful when she swims!

He can't get enough of the lessons and ask EV.ERY.DAY when Monday will arrive... that is an awesome sign!  I love hearing that!

 He, however, would rather sit on the sidelines and watch... I might just have to grant him that wish next session.  Don't let the photos fool you... He cried when he went in, cried when I walked away to get the other two showered and dressed... and was sulking during the rest of the lessons while I watched from the outside.  Then I came in to take a few photos before the end of class.

  What did you do at swim lessons today, E?  "I cried. We talked about movies.  And that's it."  Gee... I paid good money for you to do that?  I must be pretty wealthy!

Something fishy going on here....

well, maybe some little ones at Half Moon Bay.
Vince decided to take us all fishing today -- yippee!  (insert sarcastic smile right about here :))
Here they are getting started:

 Everyone is excited!  Vince bought them each their very own fishing poles!

  or light saber... it's very versatile!

 The pier:

 Casting the first pole:

 The bait... fresh squid!

 Big sis helping out:

 

 One of our fishing neighbors gave us his fish...

 So the boys had some fun with them!

 Look mom!

MG is determined to get her very own fish - forget the neighbors' donations!

 The boys were content to play with the donated fish!

 Then he finally caught his very own -- great job MD!!!!

 Here it is... need a magnifying glass????

 Again, boys didn't care... they played with them anyway!

 And she's still determined to get her own...

When he became bored with the fish, he started to play with the bait!

 And MG's determination may be paying off...

 There you have it, baby girl finally got one!!!!!!

 Yahoo!!!!!!!!!

 In the bucket...

 Out of the bucket????

 It was time to go home so we had to decide what we were going to do...

 That one fish knew it wanted to go back into the water...

 MD voted for the fish to go home.

 MG wanted them to return to the water.

 Boys won the vote... the fish came home with us.

We were too tired to cook this evening, so we went out for Vietnamese food in San Mateo.  The fish are in the frig... waiting for Vince to fry them up... all 7 of them (hee hee, I know, what a feast that's going to be!).  They had so much fun today.  Well worth it.  It was hot in San Jose, so driving to HMB was worth it.  It's going to be 93 tomorrow... wow, a few more days of heat!